London buses could now be fuelled by your morning coffee, as Shell experiments with biofuel

Shell is hoping to fuel your morning bus ride using leftover coffee grounds as it invests in a new bio fuel created by Bio-bean.

With over 5,000 tonnes of waste coffee grounds being produced by the UK each year, Bio-bean founder, Arthur Kay, looked at ways of making the process more efficient.

To do so, he created the bio-bus. A bus solely fuelled by the coffee grounds oil and diesel combination.

Kay said: “Bio-bean has worked with Shell from the outset from when I first came up with the idea. We got the first actual piece of funding from them and through their support we’ve been able to bring to fruition the bio-bean bus.”

This marks the latest instalment in Shell’s #MakeTheFuture global energy relay, which tasked six entrepreneurs to come together to create innovative and eco-friendly alternatives to daily tasks. One has included the ‘Jump For Your Lunch’ campaign that saw people pay for their kinetic energy.

Malena Cutuli, group head of integrated brand communications and capability at Shell created and developed the initiative and has been outspoken about her support of it all. She said: “I wish I had come up with the idea.

“Coffee is something that we all drink in many countries around the world, the way that they [Bio-bean] are turning waste into something that cities can re-use and re-utilise, whether that mobility or anything else that can help us address the energy challenge in the future, is an amazing thing.

“A good idea can come from anywhere, but with the scale and ambition of Shell, we can together make true progress.”